Machete horror: ‘I thought it was an axe’

A GOLD Coast mother whose face was slashed in a machete attack says the last thing she remembers before being struck was seeing "a blade" coming toward her.

Ingrid Eva Brown, 35, of Coombabah, told police she saw a man put "both of his hands above his head" in the early hours of July 1.

"I thought it was an axe, the blade has then struck the left side of my face," Ms Brown said.

She said after the brutal strike to the left side of her face she "fell to the ground, holding my face" but she "didn't realise how bad it was".

Details of the stay-at-home mum's ordeal were revealed in the Brisbane Supreme Court last month when her alleged attacker, crane operator Clint Darryn Hall, 35, of Coombabah, unsuccessfully applied to be released on bail.

Ms Brown told police she didn't know her attacker or his companion.

"I haven't seen them before. I don't know why this happened. I did not provoke them at all," Ms Brown said.

Ingrid Brown and Michael Liddell before they were injured.

The court was told was struck after her partner allegedly saw Hall and his stepbrother, Thomas Ealam, in bushland behind their home and questioned what they were doing.

Facial surgeon Benjamin Fu said a piece of Ms Brown's cheek bone was sliced off and needed to be secured in place with three screws, and she suffered a 20cm cut to her left check.

Dr Fu said it was likely she would "have a permanent scar across her face".

"She is also likely to have some ongoing issue with weakness of the facial nerve, which means her smile may be potentially asymmetrical in the long term," Dr Fu said in documents filed in court.

The court heard Ms Brown said seconds before she was struck she heard her partner Michael Liddell yell: "Ingrid, there's a machete".

The court heard Hall told police he heard Ms Brown say "he got me" before she fell to the ground.

Hall later called police because he "feared he had seriously injured" Brown, the court was told.

Brown spent three days in hospital and received 24 stitches to repair her cheek.

Hall has been in prison on remand since July 1, just hours after he and his stepbrother Thomas Ealam, 18, are alleged to have used 30cm-40cm long martial arts-style swords to cut a gash in Brown's face.

He is also accused of slashing the arm of her partner Michael Liddell at their Coombabah home.

Ms Brown was cut from her mouth to her ear after she and Mr Liddell allegedly confronted Hall for allegedly stealing copper pipe from a nearby construction site at 3am.

Hall and Ealam both face a potential life sentence if convicted of two charges of carrying out acts intended to maim or disfigure or disable.

Hall has also been charged with unlawful possession of suspected or stolen property.

Court documents state Hall told police he stole "about 5kg of copper" piping from a luxury residential apartment building site in Biggera Waters called "Water Point", which he planned to sell for $40.